Basic Voice a Essential Service to the Elderley

The NBN debacle delivered by the Turnbull government is leaving many elderly and incapacitated people totally stranded in the whirlpool of competition for their basic telephone service. With exchanges shutting down, voice only services will be delivered by the NBN by VOIP (voice over Internet protocol) changing the way the basic service is delivered.

These people who only need the basic service, the service they have paid for and serviced them will be forced to decide which provider and the cheapest to select to maintain basic communication to their families and support teams.

To provide that basic service will cost NBN less than the cost of cup of coffee as the switching will be done automatically as part of the cutover. Their business is data not voice, so that basic voice service should be standard across the nation and take the profiteer provider level out of the equation.

It goes back to the question “is a basic telephone a essential service”?

That Communication Act Clause should be reinstated as governments encourage the elderly and in-firmed treated at home rather than clogging the hospital systems.